why don't you guys just do what we do, charge a tax based on how much gas you use? why have an excise tax on the car itself? We pay a tax per gallon of gas sold, so if you aren't using you car, you aren't being taxed...

Yes, that has been suggested many times, but the government ignore the suggestion as they are all wasters.

So people that use the roads more, makes sense, however this was suggested under the previous government and they ignored it.

So all they do is add a little duty to fuel duty.

The road vehicle licence tax doesn't go to repairing roads and improving highways, nope only around 20% of it does, it's a scam.

Same with being forced to pay a TV licence, to fund the bloated broadcasting corporation.

Paying people £18,000,000 a year as a retainer or a chief executive £800,000 for 4 hours work per week.

I have no problem with road tax - as drivers we already know that a vast % of our money goes to the gov't. The thing I have a problem with is how they calculate it based on emissions.

I have a 2010 Alfa Romeo MiTo - it's a little 1.4l petrol hatchback, and since it's turbocharged, it produces about 160bhp. Not a huge or really powerful car - my road tax is £180 a year.

My parents have a 2004 Ford Focus diesel. It's emissions are lower, although if you consider the emissions per kw output, it's FAR less efficient than my MiTo. Every time you put your foot down, a cloud of black smoke puffs out of the back - yet because, on paper, when it was new, it's "emissions" were less than mine, their road tax is about £100.

Just calculate it based on a fairer metric. If you're doing it based on emissions - shove a pipe up the exhaust every year (happens on the MOT test anyway!!!) and charge a rate based on the actual emissions now. Or take into account that a car which produces twice as much CO2, but has 4 times as much power, is actually twice as efficient.